Hey. My name is Heath Saraceno. I play guitar in Senses Fail. I go on tour. I eat food. This is the food that I eat while on tour.

Email suggestions to heathlovesfood@gmail.com if you know of a sweet spot I should try.
March 9
MARCH 9, 2009 Mahwah, NJ BAGEL EXPRESS - TAYLOR HAM, EGG, CHEESE This is something you’re really only going to get in New Jersey.  Taylor Ham, or Pork Roll depending on how far south in New Jersey you are, is a pork product similar in appearance to a mix between spam, bologna and salami.  Usually it is cooked on a hot grill with 3 or 4 notches cut into it to prevent it from curling up as it cooks.  It is a breakfast meat. In some areas, this sandwich is colloquially referred to as the Jersey Breakfast.  A truer nickname there could not be.  I grew up on this stuff.  My grandmother used to buy it by the pound in a cotton-sheathed log.  I have never been to a diner, deli or bagel place in NJ that did not have this on their menu, yet go just outside of state and you’ll be hard pressed to find it.  A waitress in Kingston, NY (60 miles into NY) looked at me like I was deranged when I tried to order it in her diner - she had never heard of it before. This is a breakfast sandwich that you really can not mess up.  As long as you heat up the meat, it is acceptable.  I prefer it well done, black on the edges, but I’ve gotten it very light before and could not bring myself to complain about it.  And it’s ok to put ketchup on it!  The ketchup - egg combo usually grosses me out, but it works with the fat of the meat.  It can not be good for you. I told my friend Beau, our driver and a man who enjoys food, that while he was here today he should do 2 things - go to White Manna in Hackensack and go to any bagel place and get one of these sandwiches.  I hope he did both, but while White Manna is a historical burger joint, Taylor Ham is pretty much the state meat of New Jersey. p.s. I swapped out the photo from yesterday with a photo of Dan Trapp’s sandwich from today.  Thanks Dan!

MARCH 9, 2009

Mahwah, NJ

BAGEL EXPRESS - TAYLOR HAM, EGG, CHEESE

This is something you’re really only going to get in New Jersey.  Taylor Ham, or Pork Roll depending on how far south in New Jersey you are, is a pork product similar in appearance to a mix between spam, bologna and salami.  Usually it is cooked on a hot grill with 3 or 4 notches cut into it to prevent it from curling up as it cooks.  It is a breakfast meat.

In some areas, this sandwich is colloquially referred to as the Jersey Breakfast.  A truer nickname there could not be.  I grew up on this stuff.  My grandmother used to buy it by the pound in a cotton-sheathed log.  I have never been to a diner, deli or bagel place in NJ that did not have this on their menu, yet go just outside of state and you’ll be hard pressed to find it.  A waitress in Kingston, NY (60 miles into NY) looked at me like I was deranged when I tried to order it in her diner - she had never heard of it before.

This is a breakfast sandwich that you really can not mess up.  As long as you heat up the meat, it is acceptable.  I prefer it well done, black on the edges, but I’ve gotten it very light before and could not bring myself to complain about it.  And it’s ok to put ketchup on it!  The ketchup - egg combo usually grosses me out, but it works with the fat of the meat.  It can not be good for you.

I told my friend Beau, our driver and a man who enjoys food, that while he was here today he should do 2 things - go to White Manna in Hackensack and go to any bagel place and get one of these sandwiches.  I hope he did both, but while White Manna is a historical burger joint, Taylor Ham is pretty much the state meat of New Jersey.

p.s. I swapped out the photo from yesterday with a photo of Dan Trapp’s sandwich from today.  Thanks Dan!